——Did they start their activities as early as 60 years ago...

Qingdeng's heart sank.

He suddenly discovered that the background of this mysterious association named "Fa Zhu" seemed to be much deeper than he expected.

"...Mr. Arima, do you know who the person who sent you the letter is?"

Qingdeng looked at the letter in his hand a few more times.

The words and sentences used in the letter are basically all Chinese characters.

The Edo shogunate's private education had always been very good, and temple houses were opened everywhere.

[Terakoya: All private educational institutions in the Edo period were collectively referred to as "Terakoya", and scholars, farmers, industry and commerce were all eligible to enroll. According to rough statistics, there were more than 20,000 Terakoya in the Edo period. 】

Affected by this, although the common people under the Tokugawa rule cannot be said to be well-educated, they can be said to have a certain level of education, and their literacy rate is impressive.

However, the characters that ordinary people know are mainly kana and some simple and commonly used Chinese characters.

Only those who have received further higher education can read and write Chinese characters proficiently.

As for the barrier-free reading of Han classics such as "Historical Records" and "Zizhi Tongjian"... ordinary people would not even dare to think about it.

Not only are all the words written in the letter in Chinese characters, but the handwriting is clear and powerful... It can be determined that the person who wrote this letter must have received a fairly good education.

As soon as Qingdeng finished speaking, Arima shook his head gently.

"I don't know who sent me the letter. I have also tried to investigate, but found nothing."

"At first, I thought someone was playing a prank on me."

"Longzhi will die in front of me."

"High fever, uncontrollable diarrhea, rice-like stool... His symptoms are exactly the same as tiger and wolf diarrhea."

"Even the doctor who spent a lot of money to bring in the disease came to the conclusion that the disease Longzhi suffered from was indeed tiger-wolf diarrhea."

"What's more, to take a step back, how could Longzhi cause the collapse of the association?"

"Let's not put aside whether the law-enforcement party mentioned in the letter is the same organization as the law-enforcement group that I know was active for a while 60 years ago. Takayuki is just a member of the 'Three Chapters' of the Enforcement Office.

Tongxin, to put it simply and straightforwardly...how could a small character like him get involved with that kind of terrifying and dangerous fallen association?"

"I'm really full of doubts..."

"In fact, I have seriously considered whether to burn this letter full of doubts as firewood."

"But in the end I couldn't ignore this letter, and I couldn't regard what it said as a boring joke..."

“All my life, I have always been strict with myself by ‘walking upright, sitting upright, and standing upright’.”

“How can I ‘behave upright and sit up straight’ if I ignore my friends who may have been wronged?”

"Even if there is only a chance, I will investigate Longzhi's death and get to the bottom of it."

"If I were to fight alone, I would still be too weak after all."

"So I asked Inodani and Ushiyama to help - that was what happened when you first joined the 'Three Chapters'."

"Because I didn't know who was the enemy and who was the friend, I didn't look for other helpers after recruiting Inotani and Ushiyama who were absolutely trustworthy."

"As of tonight, this letter in your hand has been the biggest secret between me, Zhu Gu and Niu Shan."

"Inodani and Ushiyama have suggested that you should be included in the group."

"But after thinking about it again and again, I finally decided that it would be best not to let you know about the existence of this letter for the time being."

"You were still young at that time and lacked experience, so you were not yet able to act on your own."

"It's not necessarily a good thing to let you know such a heavy thing too early."

"I originally planned to wait for 1 or 2 years, wait for you to mature a little more, and gain more experience, before I confess the truth to you."

"Haha, I didn't expect...you came to the door yourself first..."

Having said this, Arima sighed heavily.

A shadow of melancholy appeared between his straight eyebrows.

"Ji Jun, I feel...very sorry for you..."

"Although I, Inoya, and Ushiyama, the three of us proudly promised to thoroughly investigate Takayuki's death and bring justice to your Tachibana family, in the end... after more than a year of investigation, nothing was achieved..."

As Arima spoke, he changed into a self-deprecating tone.

"Fortunately, we are still 'three times' samurai with more than ten years of work experience... I am really ashamed and ashamed..."

Qingdeng responded in a precise tone:

"Mr. Arima, please don't say that. I am very grateful to you for your willingness to fight for my father's injustice."

After finishing speaking, Qingdeng lowered his head and gently rubbed the letter paper in his hand with his eyes.

Funny to say, Qing Nobomoto hoped that tonight's secret meeting with Arima would dispel some of the fog in his mind.

As a result, after talking with Arima, the fog in my mind not only did not decrease, but became more and more numerous and heavier...

He never expected that Tachibana Takayuki could actually be related to that Shenlong that never came to an end. Whenever Kiryu boss talked about this force, he would definitely frown and change his face...

"ha……"

Qingdeng couldn't help but raise his head, face the ceiling, and let out a deep breath.

The past half month has really been as long as half a year...

There is truth behind the truth...

Behind the shady curtain, there is a shady secret...

——Now that things have happened, it wouldn’t be surprising if something even more exciting is discovered in the future.

Thinking of this, a smile that seemed to be both a sneer and a self-deprecation appeared on Qingdeng's lips.

"...Mr. Arima, do you know where everything started...the teacher who came to carry out the reported murder, where does he live now?"

Based on what Arima just said, all things and the source of everything are that teacher!

It was after Tachibana Takayuki investigated the murder reported by this person that he began to visit casinos and began to behave strangely.

This man must know something!

Arima raised his gaze and looked straight at Qingdeng.

"I know where that person lives...but, Mr. Tachibana, with all due respect, if you want to go and question him, you will probably be disappointed."

"Why?"

"Whatever you can think of, we have naturally thought of it a long time ago."

"I, Inoya and Ushiyama, have visited that man more than once, hoping to get some useful information from him."

"To this end, we have resorted to hard work and every means possible."

"However, that man was unmoved. To put it harshly... he was like a 'living dead'."

"Although a person is still alive and can still breathe and eat, his whole spirit and spirit are the same as those of a dead person."

"No matter what we said or asked, he seemed to have lost his mind and would neither talk to nor pay attention to us."

"After a lot of back and forth, we all gave up trying to get information on him."

So there is such a hidden secret... Qingdeng thought to himself.

"Even so, I still want to visit him."

Qingdeng said in a firm tone.

"...Well, since you've said it all, I won't say anything more. That person lives in the 5th-chome of Haramachi."

Arima quickly reported a list of detailed addresses.

Qingdeng silently memorized the address and then asked:

"By the way, I always forgot to ask, what is the name of that teacher?"

"His name is quite elegant. You can tell at a glance that he is the name of a Confucian scholar."

Arima twitched the corner of his mouth, and then said word by word:

"His name is Kikuchi Sensui."

…

…

The next day——

In the second year of Wanyan (1861), January 22nd——

Edo, somewhere——

Gray clouds hang low.

Today's weather is not ideal.
To be continued...